The 'scaffolding' breakthrough that rebuilds skin for victims of burns and ulcers
By Pat Hagan
Last updated at 11:19 PM on 18th August 2008
A bandage that helps new skin grow, then dissolves safely into the body, could be a major breakthrough in the treatment of burns and ulcers.
The high-tech dressing acts as a type of scaffolding for skin cells to latch on to and grow.
After six to eight weeks, when a patch of new skin tissue has formed, the ultra-fine bandage is harmlessly absorbed into the bloodstream in the same way as dissolvable stitches used to sew up wounds.
The skin cells 'need a relatively uncomplicated scaffolding - it's in their DNA to sort themselves into the right arrangement'
The breakthrough, by a team of scientists at Sheffield University, could help patients with extensive burns that are too large to be repaired with conventional skin grafts taken from other parts of the body or from donors.
Patients with deep ulcers that refuse to heal, usually caused by diabetes-related circulation problems, could also benefit.
The new grow-your-own-skin technique has been under development for several years at the University of Sheffield.
A team of researchers there set about looking for a way to help new skin cells grow sufficiently to cover large areas of damage.
The problems with previous techniques:
Although surgeons often patch up burns using skin grafted from other parts of the body, such as the back or buttocks, in severe cases it is often impossible to harvest enough skin to cover the affected area.
One reason is that with very badly burned bodies, doctors need to replace both the inner layer of skin, called the dermis, and the outer layer, known as the epidermis.
Finding areas of healthy skin that can provide a graft of sufficient depth and breadth can be difficult.
Other options include using skin from deceased donors, which means the patient taking anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their life, or using bovine collagen, a type of fibrous protein found in cow's skin, to cover the burned area. This also carries the risk of rejection.
The new technique:
Although there have been previous attempts to build a 'scaffold' on which the body's own skin cells can flourish, these have had limited success.
The latest technique involves making a bandage so fine it looks and feels like tissue paper but has fibres that are 100 times finer.
To begin with, a chemical called a polymer is exposed to a process called electrospinning. This involves pumping the liquid polymer through an electrostatic field and spinning it at high speed so it turns into a fibre barely visible to the naked eye.
These are knitted together into a type of tissue paper the size and shape of the burned skin.
Doctors then scrape a few skin cells from the patient's arm or leg and place them on the bandage scaffold in the laboratory.
Over the next few weeks, the skin cells grow and spread until they cover most of the scaffold. It is then grafted onto the wound. The bandage slowly disappears, leaving the healthy new skin graft in position.
The technique is still being tested in the lab and has yet to be used on patients. But Professor Tony Ryan, who is leading the project, says the results so far are very promising.
'Previous attempts to find better ways of encouraging skin cell growth have used chemical additives and other elaborate techniques to produce scaffolds - but their success has been limited,' he says.
'We've found that skin cells are actually very smart - it's in their DNA to sort themselves into the right arrangement. They just need a comparatively uncomplicated scaffold to help them grow in a safe, natural way.'
Find this story at www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-...-breakthrough-rebuilds-skin-burns-ulcers.html
By Pat Hagan
Last updated at 11:19 PM on 18th August 2008
A bandage that helps new skin grow, then dissolves safely into the body, could be a major breakthrough in the treatment of burns and ulcers.
The high-tech dressing acts as a type of scaffolding for skin cells to latch on to and grow.
After six to eight weeks, when a patch of new skin tissue has formed, the ultra-fine bandage is harmlessly absorbed into the bloodstream in the same way as dissolvable stitches used to sew up wounds.
The skin cells 'need a relatively uncomplicated scaffolding - it's in their DNA to sort themselves into the right arrangement'
The breakthrough, by a team of scientists at Sheffield University, could help patients with extensive burns that are too large to be repaired with conventional skin grafts taken from other parts of the body or from donors.
Patients with deep ulcers that refuse to heal, usually caused by diabetes-related circulation problems, could also benefit.
The new grow-your-own-skin technique has been under development for several years at the University of Sheffield.
A team of researchers there set about looking for a way to help new skin cells grow sufficiently to cover large areas of damage.
The problems with previous techniques:
Although surgeons often patch up burns using skin grafted from other parts of the body, such as the back or buttocks, in severe cases it is often impossible to harvest enough skin to cover the affected area.
One reason is that with very badly burned bodies, doctors need to replace both the inner layer of skin, called the dermis, and the outer layer, known as the epidermis.
Finding areas of healthy skin that can provide a graft of sufficient depth and breadth can be difficult.
Other options include using skin from deceased donors, which means the patient taking anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their life, or using bovine collagen, a type of fibrous protein found in cow's skin, to cover the burned area. This also carries the risk of rejection.
The new technique:
Although there have been previous attempts to build a 'scaffold' on which the body's own skin cells can flourish, these have had limited success.
The latest technique involves making a bandage so fine it looks and feels like tissue paper but has fibres that are 100 times finer.
To begin with, a chemical called a polymer is exposed to a process called electrospinning. This involves pumping the liquid polymer through an electrostatic field and spinning it at high speed so it turns into a fibre barely visible to the naked eye.
These are knitted together into a type of tissue paper the size and shape of the burned skin.
Doctors then scrape a few skin cells from the patient's arm or leg and place them on the bandage scaffold in the laboratory.
Over the next few weeks, the skin cells grow and spread until they cover most of the scaffold. It is then grafted onto the wound. The bandage slowly disappears, leaving the healthy new skin graft in position.
The technique is still being tested in the lab and has yet to be used on patients. But Professor Tony Ryan, who is leading the project, says the results so far are very promising.
'Previous attempts to find better ways of encouraging skin cell growth have used chemical additives and other elaborate techniques to produce scaffolds - but their success has been limited,' he says.
'We've found that skin cells are actually very smart - it's in their DNA to sort themselves into the right arrangement. They just need a comparatively uncomplicated scaffold to help them grow in a safe, natural way.'
Find this story at www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-...-breakthrough-rebuilds-skin-burns-ulcers.html